Hi! I’m Morgan. Thanks for visiting my website! 

I grew up in Fishers, Indiana (a suburb of Indianapolis), and then attended Rice University in Houston, TX where I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Zach Ball. I learned so much and so loved my time at Rice and the people I met there. I graduated in 2017 with a B.S. in Chemistry and then started graduate school at Caltech that fall with funding from the NSF GRFP program.

At Caltech, I joined the lab of Dr. Pamela Bjorkman where we used single particle cryo-EM to structurally characterize the interactions between HIV proteins and the broadly neutralizing antibodies that fight them. We hoped to learn what structural features are important for HIV vaccine design! We also worked on structures of SARS-CoV-2 proteins: particularly the S trimer and antibodies from both people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and people who have been immunized with mRNA vaccines. I also volunteered with the Caltech Women in Chemistry committee, the Caltech Rise tutoring program, and Stars Pasadena.

In the spring of 2021, I took a little Ph.D. “detour” and started working on establishing surveillance testing at Caltech through the Caltech Covid Surveillance Lab (CCSL), which was supported by the Merkin Institute for Translational Research. The CCSL was an internal Caltech lab that processes self-collected, pooled saliva samples using an RT-qPCR assay to detect traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Members of a pool where SARS-CoV-2 RNA is detected were sent to Student Wellness Services (SWS) for a conclusive diagnostic Covid test. The first thing I did on the team was research testing lab regulations and the components of other authorized diagnostic tests to understand how we should structure our testing program. My second role in establishing the CCSL was to work with different groups on campus – Student Wellness, the Office of the General Counsel, Student Affairs, Facilities, Security, Human Resources, and the Covid Working Group – to work out all of the details to implementing our self-collection program in a way that was safe, legal, user-friendly, and efficient. I loved getting to experience what it takes to turn bench research into something that affects real people!

In early 2022, I moved up to Palo Alto to work as a Staff Scientist in the lab of Dr. Christopher Barnes. My goals are to help establish the lab and its early work in structural biology, mentor and train students in structural methods, and eventually gain experience in the clinical operations world as the lab develops to require this work. While here, I have started using X-ray crystallography as a technique to solve interesting structures related to viral-host interactions. I’ve also served as a mentor to numerous undergraduates, post-bacs, and graduate rotation students in the growing laboratory. To the right is a lab group photo from summer 2022, we make a great team!

My next goal is to transition into a role in the pharmaceutical industry. I hope to use my skills to work on projects that have clinical impacts on real patients.

I am a dedicated runner, reader, and podcast listener (my favorite is Ologies by Alie Ward) & in my free time I enjoy hanging out with my dog, crochet projects, and going to the beach.